Vampires in the Monster Manual: Full Lore, Stats, and Tactics
The vampire is one of Dungeons & Dragons' most mechanically complex and narratively rich monsters — a creature built for multi-stage encounters, long-running campaigns, and the particular dread that comes from fighting something that refuses to stay dead. This page covers the vampire's stat block in the fifth edition Monster Manual, its legendary and lair action suite, the rules governing its regeneration and weaknesses, and how it fits into encounter design at different party levels.
Definition and scope
The fifth edition Monster Manual presents the vampire as an Undead creature of Challenge Rating 13, with a vampire spawn variant at CR 5. Both entries appear in the core rulebook alongside the broader Undead monsters guide, but the full vampire represents a different order of threat — one with a stat block designed to punish underprepared parties and reward dungeon masters who use it with patience.
The vampire's stat block records 144 hit points (17d8 + 68), an Armor Class of 16, and a walking speed of 30 feet with a 30-foot climbing speed — the latter detail quietly enabling a vampire to spider-walk across ceilings in a way players rarely anticipate. Its ability scores peak at Strength 20 (+5) and Charisma 18 (+4), reflecting a creature that wins fights both physically and socially.
The vampire is immune to lightning and necrotic damage, resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons, and entirely immune to exhaustion, the frightened condition, and the poisoned condition. That resistance profile matters enormously at CR 13 — most martial characters at that tier are still swinging nonmagical weapons unless the party has made specific gear investments.
How it works
The regeneration mechanic is the defining feature of the vampire's combat loop. The creature regains 20 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point remaining — unless it took radiant damage or flowing water damage since its last turn. This is not passive healing; it's a design pressure that forces parties to either deal radiant damage or control the battlefield environment.
The vampire's legendary action suite (detailed further in the legendary actions and lair actions reference) includes:
- Move — the vampire moves up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks
- Unarmed Strike — a standard melee attack as a legendary action
- Bite (Costs 2 Actions) — the vampire makes a bite attack against a grappled, incapacitated, or restrained creature
That bite attack is where the vampire's most dangerous ability lives. A hit deals 10 (3d6) piercing damage plus 21 (6d6) necrotic damage, and reduces the target's hit point maximum by the necrotic amount until a long rest. A humanoid reduced to 0 hit points by the bite who is then buried in the ground rises as a vampire spawn under the vampire's control — a consequence that can reshape a campaign's roster of named NPCs overnight.
The lair actions available when fighting a vampire in its own domain introduce three additional environmental effects on initiative count 20: the vampire can command shadows to restrain creatures, create a blinding mist, or call forth swarms of bats or rats. These don't add to the CR calculation but they change the action economy in ways that matter at the table.
Common scenarios
The vampire works best as a recurring antagonist rather than a single encounter boss. At CR 13, the math suggests a party of four characters at 13th level will find it a medium-to-hard encounter by the guidelines in the Dungeon Master's Guide (Chapter 3, encounter building thresholds). The monster manual encounter building framework provides the multiplier tables for adding vampire spawn to the encounter.
Three encounter configurations come up most often:
- Throne room confrontation — the vampire in its lair with 2–4 vampire spawn, using lair actions and the terrain to funnel the party into disadvantageous positions
- Ambush in transit — the vampire in mist form, bypassing doors and walls to attack a resting party in gaseous form before reverting and attacking
- Social encounter turning hostile — the vampire's Charisma 18 and proficiency in Deception, Perception, Persuasion, and Stealth makes it a credible negotiator, and many published scenarios stage the first meeting as a conversation that can go several directions
Decision boundaries
The most consequential mechanical decision when running a vampire concerns the Misty Escape trait. When the vampire drops to 0 hit points outside its resting place, it transforms into a cloud of mist instead of dying, retreating toward its coffin at 20 feet per turn. The only way to stop this escape is trapping it in running water or sunlight — meaning a party that doesn't control the escape routes has almost certainly failed to kill it permanently, even if they "won" the fight.
Comparing the full vampire (CR 13) to the vampire spawn (CR 5) illustrates how much design work the legendary action economy and regeneration suite contribute. The spawn has 82 hit points, no regeneration, no legendary actions, and no Misty Escape. It's a dangerous martial threat but a fundamentally different encounter shape — more like a powerful undead soldier than a boss.
Sunlight is the vampire's hardest constraint. Exposure deals 20 radiant damage at the start of each turn the vampire begins its turn in sunlight, and every attack roll and ability check is made at disadvantage. A party that can guarantee outdoor daylight encounters has effectively solved the regeneration problem and negated most of the vampire's defensive suite.
The vampire complete guide expands on variant vampire types across editions, including the differences between fifth edition's presentation and earlier versions catalogued in the Monster Manual editions history. For dungeon masters building the broader encounter context, the most iconic monsters in D&D page places the vampire in the ranked company of the beholder, lich, and mind flayer — creatures the Monster Manual index treats as the game's defining encounter designs.